


The Birthday Cake

by OneForMischief



Series: The Misadventures of Darcy Lewis and Agent Not-So-Dead [8]
Category: Avengers (Comics), Iron Man (Comic), Iron Man (Movies), Iron Man - All Media Types, Marvel (Comics), Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012), Thor (Movies), Thor - All Media Types
Genre: Birthday Cake, Gen, SHIELD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-30
Updated: 2013-05-30
Packaged: 2017-12-13 09:36:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/822797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OneForMischief/pseuds/OneForMischief
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On May 29, 1992, Joanna finds herself buying a birthday cake. It wasn't really planned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Birthday Cake

**May 29, 1992, 5:30 PM**

**A Small Grocery Store Located Three Blocks From SHIELD Headquarters**

“Are you okay, ma’am?”

“I’m sorry, what?” Joanna asks, wiping her eyes quickly and looking up at the elderly woman behind the bakery counter.

“I asked if you were okay. It’s not every day that somebody tears up over my decorating,” the woman says kindly.

Joanna glances back down at the cakes and shakes her head.

“I’m fine. It’s just that I … I’m not sure which one my daughter would like,” she explains, and it’s true enough without the rest of the story. She doesn’t need to tell this woman that she’s not seeing her daughter today, or that she doesn’t know what she likes at all, except for what Rachel puts in her letters.

“How old is she?”

“She’s six today,” Joanna smiles.

“They grow up so fast.”

“They do,” she agrees, and then a wave of guilt bubbles up inside her. “It’s my son’s birthday, too.”

“Twins?”

“No, he’s twenty-two. It’s his first birthday away from family.”

The rest is true, even if he’s not her boy, and suddenly she needs to leave. She needs to just get out of the store, take Nick up on his offer to pick up Chinese, and never look at children’s birthday cakes again.

“I’m sorry, listen to me going on and on,” she smiles apologetically, starting to turn her cart away.

“Aren’t you getting cakes?”

“Oh, right, of course. Uh, just, just one, for both of them, I suppose.”

“And what should I write on it, honey?”

“Happy Birthday Tony and Darcy,” she sighs, trying not to cry again.

* * *

 

“This is the weirdest thing we’ve ever done on this day,” Nick observes, digging out a bite of the ‘a’ in ‘and’ with his plastic fork.

“Yep,” she agrees, finally laughing at herself.

“At least it’s a small cake,” he grins.

“Oh, shut up.”

**Author's Note:**

> Sad Joanna is sad. But I love her.


End file.
